Not to sound too conspiratorial, but in recent months, there seems to be a lot of collusion between a certain clique of royal reporters. They’re all appearing on each other’s podcasts and they’re using each other as “royal sources,” and building their stories with each other’s increasingly unhinged reporting. It’s like they’re trying to outdo one another for who can make the most ridiculous claims. This collusion has brought us stories like “the Duchess of Sussex’s Montecito kitchen is a laughingstock and it looks like an Olive Garden and she’s too broke to renovate” and “Oprah and George Clooney hate Meghan and Prince Harry.” Well, the latest from this clique is the Daily Mail’s Alison Boshoff crying about Meghan posting wedding photos on her eighth anniversary (last week) and something something AS EVER!!
Meghan Markle’s release of previously unseen pictures from her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry to mark their anniversary is a cynical marketing move to promote her As Ever lifestyle brand, Alison Boshoff has told Palace Confidential.
The Daily Mail’s Editor-at-Large said it was telling that the nostalgic photo dump coincided with the brand spotlighting its ‘519’ candle, named for the couple’s May 19 wedding date. Boshoff added that this is a make-or-break year for As Ever, predicting the brand must start making money now or ‘all the wheels will come off’.
‘Do you remember what they did to mark their seventh wedding anniversary?’ Boshoff asked co-hosts Rebecca English and Richard Eden. ‘Meghan posted a picture of a cork mood board to show how in love they are, it included baby scans and whatever. Everyone went: pass the sick bag. This year is so different. And I wonder why it’s so different? Can I direct your attention to a very nice candle called 519, their wedding date. Call me a horrible person, but I fear this huge, candid photo dump was intended to funnel people to the brand, because this year they really have to make money. This is the year Meghan’s brand has to work. That’s the difference between the seventh anniversary and the eighth. Both are equally insignificant, but this one, they’re funnelling.’
Despite claiming Meghan’s business endeavours were struggling, Boshoff dismissed theories that the Duchess was angling to launch her own potentially lucrative fashion brand. The rumours began circulating online after Meghan posted a photo of herself in front of a wardrobe full of designer clothes, among them a Giorgio Armani suit she later wore in Geneva. Boshoff said this was more an attempt by the Duchess to pitch herself as an influencer than the cryptic launch of a fashion line.
She explained: ‘This started after Meghan posted a picture on the eve of her visit to Geneva. She was in her big, walk-in wardrobe with a huge rack of designer clothes behind her. Very prominently displayed in the front was a Giorgio Armani black suit with gold buttons. Her daughter Lilibet was sitting at her feet, with her face turned away. People took it as a sign she wanted to start a fashion brand – I think that’s very unlikely. The money it takes to start a fashion brand is huge. This is Meghan the influencer again, not Meghan the fashion designer.’
This is what happens when you’ve spent years convincing yourself that everything Meghan does or says is wrong or insulting or an attack on the Windsors or the royal institution. You end up crying on a YouTube show about a woman posting wedding photos on her anniversary. You throw on a tin-foil hat for every single Instagram posted by a woman in California. For argument’s sake, let’s say that Boshoff’s big conspiracy is true: Meghan posted a bunch of wedding photos to sell a candle. And? Is that some kind of high crime or misdemeanor? But even then, the whole conspiracy is just stupid – Meghan introduced the As Ever candle months and months ago. When she posted her anniversary photos, she didn’t even add a link to As Ever or anything. These people have spent a full week crashing out about a woman celebrating her own wedding anniversary.
Photos courtesy of Netflix, Meghan’s Instagram and As Ever’s Instagram.
